Nicolas Checa

Checa's first big chess achievement was in 2012 swhen he became U12 National Champion in the USCF/Chess.com invitational championship. He has since been a member of the All-American Chess Team. At age 11, he became the youngest New York State Champion in history—a record that he still holds which led to his profiles in both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. In 2014 he placed second in the U14 section of the North American Youth Chess Championship and obtained 1st place in the NAYCC Blitz Open. 2015 brought continued success as he tied for 5th place in the World Youth Chess Championship in Greece, where he was the official U.S. player in the U14 section. In that same year, he became an FM. The following year, he became an IM. In 2017, Checa has continued his chess succes when he became National High School (K-12) Blitz Champion at the VI SuperNationals that took place in Nashville in May. In March, he became the New York High School Championship in Saratoga, New York and in February he participated in the SCCSC GM Norm Invitational. Checa recently got a GM Norm at the Philadelphia international last week leading up to the Juniors tournament.